"WITH THE STRENGTH OF OUR PEOPLE! THE FLESH OF OUR PEOPLE! THE SUFFERING! KILL THE TYRANNICAL! THE CRUEL FOLKS OF THE EMPIRE SHALL KNOW OUR WRATH!" The bonfire known as the Benumbed Tribe's leader continued to cry out even when he was on fire and a halberd was stuck in his throat. It was odd that he was speaking Elcrian when not all Trolls learned the language.
He swept the pesky humans that constantly threatened to burn him alive but they were too quick now that he was greatly weakened. The burden from the constant regrowth of cut limbs was devouring his life force and stamina very quickly.
"WE FEAST!" He continued to spur his men.
The leader's brothers were all dead, killed by the tiny one and the archer who fought like a warrior. Tears wouldn't stop flowing down as he only managed to get his hands on his youngest brother. The bastard with a small frame but a large chest burned the rest to ashes.
"WE FEAST! WE FEAST! WE FEA... " Every one of his tribe members who were still alive echoed after him. Some hesitated more than others, those of them died with pride. He was sure.
He couldn't afford to hesitate any longer than the youth under his command. He needed to get as many of them back to the main base as possible. The tiny one who escaped his clutches killed half of the hungry youths under him in a short time before the parents' squad went to stop him in their rage.
Was there even half of them remaining?
The tribe leader didn't know, he couldn't afford to look away from the fast critters holding him down. He regretted sending out a thousand of them towards their forward base. They were mercilessly shot down by dozens of bows. Only when those bows started shooting did he notice the aura of those scrawny blue men. That disgusting aura was something he was familiar with but those new on the battlefield wouldn't be able to sense it.
There was nothing his men could do against those bows high in the sky except block and stay alive as long as they could. A small number managed to retreat only to be killed by their attackers. Most of those bows flew away, towards their forward base but 5 remained in the sky as if to overwatch the situation. The blanket of arrows also left, with about 10 remaining behind each of the 5 overseers.
He feared that these 5 would start attacking but 50 arrows wouldn't do much even if they exploded. Unfortunately, he didn't know the capabilities of these bows. The constant eye he had to give above him had put a lot of pressure on him as he fought the 2 warriors who wielded fire magic.
Now, the archer joined them and had a look of disgust as he licked every drop and morsel of his brother.
'I won't let you die for nothing.'
He gulped and roared to the heavens with his throat fully healed and energy filling his starved body along with all his tribe members who committed the sin of cannibalism with him.
❅❅❅
Ebony's battle wasn't really affected. There weren't a lot of dead bodies and their battle already shifted pretty far. The bulk of the militia's battle on the other hand had a ton of bodies or at least, body parts.
'I see. They were starving all this time.' Ebony understood. The Imperial Army wasn't the only one that had food supply problems. These huge Trolls must eat a lot. They don't have a continent worth of farms backing them. Their food source was likely from their rear where they fish from the sea. As far as he was aware, this battlefield didn't reach Tova and they were really far away.
Their numbers far surpassed the Imperial Army and they clearly had a bigger diet. It was no wonder they were so desperate to eat anything they got their hands on. The Trolls that slipped into Elva were more well-fed. He understood why this tribe seemed sluggish and weakened. Sadly for the ones against his group, their moment of glee was an opening that he wouldn't let slip. In one fell swoop, they were all blasted into the air. Smashing into Cap Dwarf's entourage.
Ebony took a single step to weave past all of them and got beside his elder.
"Should I try to get things under control?" He asked calmly. The situation wasn't looking good for the others. They might get killed in moments with the renewed vigour of their enemies. Just as he posed the question, Trolls further away bulked up with another roar.
'They might not make it.' Ebony thought. It was evident the Troll's couldn't use this power up without enough energy so it shouldn't last for too long as not many of them got the chance to eat. But the militia generally had lower endurance and they were already running low on mana. All the mana regeneration potions required them to stop casting magic before they could recover a smidgen of mana compared to how much they required.
From how he saw things, the militia wouldn't outlast this short period of time.
"No. We need your power as a surprise later on." Cap denied. Ebony was scheduled to attack the forward base with the bulk of the militia after this operation was completed.
"I'll take things over here. Don't bite your tongue." Cap Dwarf grabbed his hip with an iron grip.
"I'll get there myself." Ebony rooted himself down so that he wasn't thrown.
His group attacked from outside the enclosure where he and Cap were with the support of a snakehead. He wasn't worried for them now that they were within the Cap's reach.
He weaved out of the enclosure without a sound, Treading Strides covered the distance beneath shadows as much as it could. The Cap prioritised taking the leader down so that they could free up 3 strong elites to annihilate the others. Ebony wouldn't be able to protect the second group of elites from so many Grandmasters without ice magic, he was barely able to protect himself.
No one was able to stop him or even catch sight of him as he made his way to the 1v3 battle. The archer lady hugged the Benumbed Tribe leader's enlarged neck with her legs and a thick wire. Her two arrows were linked by a metal wire which she coiled around the giant's neck and pulled backwards with all her strength.
The dual longsword user was zooming back and forth, laying deep lacerations on the leader's legs. Joints especially.
The giant's arms were busy parrying blows from a halberd with the same two-handed rock blade that most of his tribe members wielded. Journeymen would die just by staying near their battle as the shockwaves of every exchange of blows were enough to tear their weak bodies apart. Scorchie and Scorchy were bright red instead of white but they should be much hotter than they appear to be. She was probably trying to drain the giant dry with her blood-drinking swords but the Troll was regenerating it fast enough that it didn't appear drained.
Ebony wasted no time and made sure he only weighed the giant down with his gravity domain.
"GRH! It's you!" The leader realized that he was the one who pulled Cap Dwarf out and led to the deaths of thousands.
His increased vigour and rage did nothing as the impediment of weight cancelled it out.
Now that he was in range, he cast Battle Song for the two elite fighters. They were not receptive to his mana. Even after they let his mana into their bodies, the enhancement didn't appear to be as obvious as it was to others that received the same support from him.
The leader jumped onto its back to smash the archer but Ebony flipped gravity around faster than it could. The archer didn't float as much, she must have some gravity resistance too. She glanced at him, Ebony didn't notice but he still acted as if he understood what she wanted. She twisted her stranglehold and swung the lighter giant over her head. Once he reached the peak, she slammed him down with his gravity's assistance. Thin blades rammed down the leader's throat without a moment's delay while a heavy strike split the giant's skull all the way down into the ground.
Two women twitched in annoyance as they dodged the shockwave that would've cut them down. Ebony's Will naturally assisted Ning Xin with a pull. She didn't have any effective gravity resistance with her mantle torn and battered. She didn't have her magic body for a long time so it was quite weak.
"Hey!" The archer protested, miraculously unwinding her wire from that position in time.
The body of this high-level Troll was durable and he was only split down to his chest. Mr kidnapper didn't let his guard down and evaded the arm that reached to grab him.
"Neck." Ebony focused his Will on the giant's neck.
Mr kidnapper moved his halberd with insane dexterity, Ebony can see how he could keep up and even push back Ning Xin. The arrows in the lady's hands already found their way into the knees of their opponent, then the ground violently vibrated from numerous shockwaves. Dozens of holes formed in the giant's leg. He didn't know what form of magic it was but he couldn't see anything moving that made those attacks. It wasn't a physical attack nor were there any vibrations in the air until a hole formed on the Troll. As if a machine gun, the Troll's legs were mutilated by invisible shots.
A blood halo sawed at one arm but still required the swordswoman to pin it down with her blades. Her build-up from her sword style must have been lost but she pushed her Core Skill as another shockwave pulsed from within her.
Ebony saw no harm in joining. Icicle swept down from the opposite side of the halberd. He augmented himself just enough such that no flames burst out of his body and only made him glow a little. The halberd was the one that did most of the work.
His body moved by itself and kicked the two pieces of the head away. The free arm of the leader had been moving to push its decapitated head back. Their opponent's shock aside, the natural chill of Icicle was enough to leave a razor-thin layer of ice that melted instantly.
The sharp butt of Mr Kidnapper's halberd pierced into the Troll's heart.
They fended off the Grandmasters that escaped Cap Dwarf and after 7 minutes of being headless, they got the notification.
'Ting' 'You have killed [Robust Raider Lvl 429], enemy 180 levels or more above your own. Partial experience gained. Experience concentration too high to dilute completely, additional experience is gained.'
He must have joined the battle a little late since he didn't get a single level while Ning Xin did even though she was already at a higher level than him. His skills already gained more than one or two levels in such a short time though.
'Their vitality is shockingly high. They don't gain power from cannibalism like rhoats but they are starved. Is the main army losing even in this situation?' All things considered, he wasn't surprised.
The forward base against Fifth Tide had an estimated army of seven hundred thousand strong. The militia's 'ambush' numbered only in the thousands. Those suicidal folks. As for the Imperial's forward base, they had about hundred and fifty thousand. Relying on magic weapons and ranged attacks to cover the gap in numerical advantage.
Unbelievable.
Never had the Trolls come to Elva with everything they had. Attacking Elva had always been an effort of a couple dozen strong Tribes not the entire continent of Tova. The Trolls united, that was the only explanation for the large-scale attack.
Fifth Tide was the smallest. The Trolls were usually forced to battle from First to Third Tide due to Navin's effort and blocking a portion of the sea but it wasn't possible this time. He wasn't privy to the details since their little militia and even Koawe didn't know or at least, didn't inform him. They managed to overcome the Empire's efforts at bringing them away from Fifth Tide but the numbers here were by far the smallest.
Ebony couldn't imagine the state of such a large battlefield when this camp alone stretched so far out of his reach. The battle here was going to be very different from how an army fought but it was an introduction. Now that they freed 3 elite fighters exhausted or not, the rest of the Benumbed Tribe were fishes on a chopping board. They left Cap to deal with the other elites and went to prevent further casualties with their weaker members.
From there, it didn't even take half an hour to finish the rest off. Ning Xin was a demon of slaughter that weaker Trolls actively avoided despite their love for combat. Mr Kidnapper was simply an experienced warrior as far as Ebony could tell but without a decent opponent for him, there was not much he could see. Miss Archer's skills were something he couldn't figure out yet. Cap's and his previous group also had some noteworthy people that he might have difficulty against.
"Cap, were you holding back? The others as well." Ebony convened with the others.
"Wha? Ya fool, it's the basics on the battlefield. Save as much energy as possible. This is a small operation but battles can last for days with barely enough time to recover. We could be attacked or surrounded at any time. Remember that."
"You hear that." Ebony poked the thoroughly exhausted girl's mask beside him. She was hiding it well but he could tell that she was having a hard time even walking.
Ebony himself had such high Strength and Agility now that his Endurance couldn't keep up. With his Core Skill, he regenerated stamina fast enough but his body was torn every moment he augmented himself. The high strain caused his muscles to cry out. It helped Stalwart Endowment and Sustained Optimum Condition to improve quickly so he wasn't about to add points to Endurance for some time. The drawback was that he could not ignore it as much as he used to. If he forced his body to move when it was already broken, he wouldn't be at full strength even if he regenerated his flesh as his Vitality couldn't keep up either.
To challenge stronger foes, it was a temporary measure he had to take. Power output had moved up in priority but he still had an impossible lead when it came to battles of attrition.
"Do you feel anything weird?" Cap asked him before turning to Ning Xin.
"..." She got serious all of a sudden and gazed at her right arm before touching it.
Ebony only cocked his head in confusion.
"Good, only girlie was marked. Stop staring at me like that, there's no way around it. It was the plan all along."
"You didn't mention a magical mark being placed." His facial expression didn't change but he was frowning within.
"So what? You think other Trolls will recognise us by faces? Not a single one escaped." Cap swung the blood and flesh away from his weapon and shield.
"Stop talking, we gotta get to the old man." Archer lady urged.
"Giddy up, drink your potions! We'll be moving in five!"
"We seem to disagree about how long five minutes is, don't we?" Mr kidnapper mused. It got some laughs from the others since he spoke out loud on purpose.
They gathered the belongings of whatever remained but most casualties were eaten. The militia didn't appear bothered at their losses except for a certain few who were closer to the ones that died. They had a very low casualty rate for an operation like this or so the archer lady told him. 28 dead was apparently 'low'.
Mr Kidnapper clearly avoided Ebony. He didn't get a chance to talk to the man at all, as the man escaped into boisterous cheers.
"Good job, many more might have died if it wasn't for you." Archer lady patted him on the back before she got pulled aside but the other ladies of the assault and support squad.
'If we weren't here…the plan would've been different. The entire militia would come here and with Commander Wil, they wouldn't even have a single casualty.' Ebony thought. But the magical mark changed things a little. If someone knew where those marked were at all times the forward base could stop the advance.
The other squads weren't as competent as the first assault squad and more of them might just translate to more casualties rather than less. Everlasting Tranquillity consoled the mind like so and pushed the noise aside, he did not cause those deaths. The deaths he caused were far greater in quantity. Were the Trolls at fault? His Core Skill put that aside as well.
According to a report, cap got, Commander Wil was having a one-on-one battle with the Troll's commander of a different tribe. The Benumbed Tribe was big, the camp here was only a small portion of them. The other Tribe prominent in Fifth Tide's forward base are the Vigiot Tribe. The Tribeless were Trolls that Ebony and Ning Xin fought in Bubble Hills.
'Tribeless' was just a general term for the majority of the Trolls that didn't have a different physical trait from the norm or any sort of lineage skill. The Vigiot Tribe were known for the weirder weapons they wielded. From what he heard, he imagined chakrams that weren't crescent-shaped but had long blades that extended down their arms. Other than that, they were physically the same as most Trolls.
"Wh..What!" Ning Xin yelled from her exhaustion when she found out that they weren't about to have a meal.
Apparently, they didn't even have meat most of the time and only when they were about to move out for a fight did they have meat on the menu. She was dismayed to find out the horrid truth.
"If it's any consolation, you can have some of my blood."
"No. I will put myself under the same conditions or there is no point." She rejected.
Ebony nodded and pointed out that going all out as she had done so just minutes ago wasn't feasible. Not with how she burned energy and required more sustenance.
"Stop nagging me, I get it!"